Marc Barrot: activeRenderer

This site has moved

Mon, 02 Feb 2004 19:40:25 GMT

The new URL for activeRenderer is http://www.activerenderer.com/. The RSS feed is now found at http://www.activerenderer.com/rss.xml. ;[read more]

activeRenderer version 2.0 released

Mon, 02 Feb 2004 18:10:04 GMT

If you are currently using the 1.x version, you should download the new version from http://download.activerenderer.com/. activeRenderer 2.0 comes with a full load of new features:

[img] The re-styled browser page displays regular outlines, outlined RSS feeds and even an outlined view of Radio's news aggregator. Take a look at http://demo.activerenderer.com/ Check out the 'world' and 'search' tabs in the selector for tons of RSS news feeds to explore. The browser page is now accessible through the desktop web site's top menu bar: there is a Browser option between the Home and News links.
activeRenderer comes with a complete set of APIs, both RESTful and XML-RPC. I hope developers will create extension modules in different programming languages (Perl, Python, PHP and Java come to mind) so that it becomes easy to publish outlines from non Radio Userland systems, such as Movable Type for instance.
[img] activeRenderer now delivers enhanced RSS rendering, translating more RSS tags into the published outlines, even including ENT 1.0 topics, linked to the W4 k-collector service. You can now include outlined RSS feeds in your Web pages with the new rssBox macro. Check out the rssBox demo and tutorial.
It is now possible to publish outlined documents to public sites hosted on different servers, by using Radio categories. More information in the updated FAQ. This feature has been requested by several power users for quite a while, and I needed it in a hurry to update the new activeRenderer site :-)

[read more]

Experimenting with topics

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:27:13 GMT

This is a test post about activeRenderer, webOutliner and k-collector to get a feel of how topics work on the local side. I'm also working on Topic Exchange integration these days. [read more]

Gallery: Katy and Bruce Loebrich

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 23:26:56 GMT

[img] Katy and Bruce's weblog makes use of activeRenderer both for outlining blog dates and post titles, and for displaying an 'active' blogroll in the right sidebar. [read more]

Gallery: David Soul

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 22:51:01 GMT

[img] David shows another fine example of activeRenderer's 'extreme' or advanced weblog outline style. [read more]

Is This Site Misbehaving ?

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 03:23:55 GMT

If the pages on the activeRenderer site seem to behave a little oddly these days, don't panic, your copy of activeRenderer is Ok, I've just been slightly over optimistic with the next 1.5 version :-) Everything should be back in Ordnung by tomorrow night.

Gallery: David Buchan

Sat, 08 Mar 2003 03:25:20 GMT

[img] David Buchan publishes a directory of knowledge management Web resources, with the same crisp layout than in his thought?horizon weblog. [read more]

activeRenderer's Rendering Service

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 01:34:13 GMT

With version 1.4 of activeRenderer, its rendering engine becomes reachable over HTTP, by sending a GET request to either 127.0.0.1:5335/activeRenderer/render - the local URL if you have both Radio Userland and activeRenderer installed - or services.activerenderer.com/activerenderer/render - the new public URL for the activeRenderer web service. [read more]

Gallery: Paolo Valdemarin

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 03:48:41 GMT

[img] This is an 'historical' exhibit in the gallery, since this probably was the first outline rendered on the Web with activeRenderer by its first user besides myself :-) [read more]

Outlined RSS Comes to the Browser

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 20:14:45 GMT

[img] I have finally released activeRenderer vs 1.4. The new version packs 3 new features:

activeRenderer now renders RSS format files (news feeds) in active outlined form,
with activeRenderer installed in Radio, you can now visualize both OPML and RSS local or remote files in the new outline browser,
activeRenderer's rendering engine is now accessible as a web service, via both a local URL and a public one at services.activeRenderer.com/activerenderer/render.

Here are some more screenshots of the outline browser: win/mozilla - win/msie - mac/msie - mac/safari). [read more]

Gallery: Law Blawgs Directory

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 19:43:55 GMT

[img] Ernie the Attorney is publishing a directory of Law related sites. He's told me it 'has become a great resource for lawyers who want to find other lawyer bloggers'. Lawers are natural outliners of course :-)

Gallery: Coral Reef Directory

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 23:26:12 GMT

[img] Donovan Watts is publishing an online directory full of information on the world's coral reefs, their inhabitants, and the dangers they're facing. [read more]

Coming Soon To A Weblog Near You

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 18:10:44 GMT

[img] Here is the second preview of RSS news feeds rendered as outlines with Radio Userland and the ever closer to release 1.4 version of activeRenderer. I think I have achieved all of my rendering goals. Outlining provides a quick, synthetic way of browsing through RSS feeds. If you have any suggestions, do send them my way by clicking the feedback link on this page. [read more]

Gallery: Endless Web Page Redux

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:54:58 GMT

[img] My own Endless Web Page is back by popular demand :-) It's an outline that actually transcludes into itself. Clicking the up arrow wedge on 'the endless web page' node inserts the whole outline into the node. [read more]

Gallery: Salvation Army's Edmonton Temple

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 17:13:31 GMT

[img] I strongly suspect Ian McKenzie of being the author of this superb layout, which makes excellent use of two activerolls, one for a site map, the other for an events calendar.

Gallery: Lord of the Rings Quiz

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 18:50:36 GMT

[img] Mark Griffin found an innovative use for web outlines: a terrific quiz for 'all Lord of the Rings fanatics' (sic). Mark currently holds the record in the 'largest outline published so far' category. [read more]

Contact Sheet View Enhances Gallery

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 23:17:30 GMT

[img] I have originally published the activeUsers Gallery - an exhibition of activeRenderer at work - in outline style. This was a good way of conveying detailed information about each featured screenshot, while demonstrating activeRenderer's picture and html link inclusions. But it failed to provide a quick visual outlook of the diversity of uses and styles achieved by activeRenderer users. So I've tried to remember past experiences of image flow presentation, and came up with an alternate contact sheet view for the gallery. [read more]

Gallery: Mikel Maron's Brain Off

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 18:14:15 GMT

[img] Eating his own dog food, Mikel reads his RSS news feeds in myRadio's aggregator module, and exports his subscriptions in a dedicated mySubscriptionsMyRadio.opml outlines in www\gems. [read more]

activeRenderer Developer's Notes

Fri, 21 Feb 2003 23:50:15 GMT

This - recently updated - document gives a step by step explanation of what is modified in your Radio configuration when you instal activeRenderer, when you turn on the weblog outline style, when you turn it off, and finally when you uninstal the tool.

Gallery: Matt Mower's Topics Index

Fri, 21 Feb 2003 23:27:31 GMT

[img] As becomes the author of liveTopics, Matt publishes a multi-page index of the topics related to his weblog posts. Each topic is a summit node in the page's outline, with as many children as there are titles of weblog entries related to that topic. [read more]

RSS Newsfeed Rendering Preview

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:06:16 GMT

Here is a taste of the new activeRenderer 1.4 with RSS rendering: I've rendered Dave Winer's, Jon Udell's and my own RSS feeds as a proof of concept. [read more]

Outlining Radio's News Aggregator

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:14:39 GMT

Mikel Maron: "activeRenderer View for News Aggregation. This is very cool. I've been using the aggregator in an outline, for a couple months now, and I wouldn't go back. Do check out the screenshot and I hope this update is enjoyed." Wow, cool indeed :-). With Mikel's myRadio tool, you can use Radio's aggregator, and get a better organized view of your feeds. If you're like John Robb, browsing through 116 subscribed feeds, the new version of myRadio sounds like a winning proposition. [read more]

activeRenderer's Macros Reference

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:15:20 GMT

activeRenderer packs a number of Usertalk macros, called from weblog or outline templates to customize your site's pages. I've recently updated the macros Reference Guide, adding all recent modifications up to activeRenderer vs 1.3.6. [read more]

Gallery: Windley's Enterprise

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:06:02 GMT

[img] Phillip uses a cleverly devised activeRoll to display links to his weblog's monthly archives. He also publishes an activeRoll of Utah personnalities, in the style of Jon's CxO bloggers. [read more]

activeRenderer Faq Update

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 22:50:39 GMT

I've just published an update to activeRenderer's Frequently Asked Questions page. Keeping track of all questions becomes harder as activeRenderer use is spreading. So please contact me via the feedback link on activeRenderer's page if you have any suggestions for new entries in the FAQ.

Gallery: The West Virginia Supreme Court

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 22:43:35 GMT

[img] Thanks to Rory Perry, the West Virginia Supreme Court publishes its opinions in outline form :-) Outlines have always been popular with lawyers, they are ideal for presenting intricate legal opinions in a simple way. [read more]

Outline Inclusion Howto

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 00:28:34 GMT

[img] I've received a fair number of inquiries about outline inclusion (sometimes refered to - by myself among others - as transclusion :-), so here is a new activeRenderer tutorial that I hope will help readers get a better understanding of this hardly new yet fascinating concept. In activeRenderer's context, inclusion is the ability to retrieve through the Web an external document linked to one of the outline's nodes (or paragraphs), and view it as an included part of the current outline, resized to fit in as a subnode of the linking node. This way, linked content can be displayed while preserving the context of the link. [read more]

Gallery Exhibitor #4: Adam Curry

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 20:37:37 GMT

[img] Adam uses the default activeRenderer template to publish his 'Fucked up shit met je XDA' outline. Since my Dutch his pretty thin, I can only guess at what he really means... [read more]

Gallery Exhibitor #3: Howard Greenstein

Sat, 15 Feb 2003 01:26:45 GMT

[img] Howard uses a slightly modified 'Adult Contemporary' Radio themes, and has activated activeRenderer's basic outline style on activeRenderer's preferences page. [read more]

Jon's activeRolls

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 04:37:02 GMT

[img] Another gallery artist: Jon Udell has recently overhauled his weblog with a brand new InfoWorld template. In the right pane of his weblog, below the Google box (cut out in the sample screenshot), he publishes 2 different active blogrolls by inserting 2 activeRoll macro calls in his template. [read more]

New activeUsers Gallery

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 19:13:50 GMT

[img] At Dave Winer's suggestion, I've created a gallery, to illustrate with screenshots how real Radio bloggers put activeRenderer to work. Today's entry features Joi Ito's weblog, which combines Radio's default theme with both activeRenderer's 'outlined weblog' styles. [read more]

activeRenderer Past 400 Users

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 16:38:06 GMT

Congrats to Christopher Filkins, who became activeRenderer's 400th registered user on February 7th, and whose s a f e r s e x weblog ranks at the top of Radio's RCS ranking by page reads with over a million and a half hits. [read more]